Gamasutra - A Theory About Humor In Games.Consider the laughter that occurs in a friendly game of Scrabble or Spin the Bottle. The chuckles that occur are just as honest as those that come about when listening to a stand-up comic, but the means of creating the insights are different. Game are unique in their ability to set up systematic, repeatable opportunities to create and confront mental models. Specifically in multiplayer games, the rules of the game often deliberately encourage players to create their own time, place and group specific jokes.

The article was funny but there is truth in it. I didn't buy anything with the purpose of trying to get an achievement (in fact, two I bought that had achievements, SPAZ and Dungeon Defenders, i haven't even played yet), but I did subject myself to games I wouldn't have bothered with otherwise (rusty hearts, crimecraft) to get the achievements. After awhile I figured out I was more than likely not going to get anything of value.

Where the guy in the article went wrong was he should of saved his coal instead of crafted and then traded them for something. Coal, especially in the first week of the sale, had a decent trade value and people were getting stuff like Risen for 12-14 coal, which the OP could have got with patience and time on the Steam Forums (or even Reddit). That's what I did and wound up with Amnesia and Sequence via trades.

It does suck that so many tried to game the system though. I guess some of that was out of Valve's control, since they couldn't have anticipated that humble bundle would be gamed to get steam keys and thus, extra accounts. Perhaps next time keep the contests limited to only those with a steam purchase in their libarary.